2023 Best Value Colleges for Optometry (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking.

Optometry is the 194th most popular major in the country with 1,822 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, optometry graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $88,635 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Far Western US region, there were 344 optometry graduates with average earnings and debt of $77,245 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in optometry. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent optometry programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the optometry program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Optometry (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, California

#1 in overall quality

$8,450 Average Net Price

$60,587 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k list. UC Berkeley is a large school located in Berkeley, California that handed out 83 ’s optometry degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our far western us region optometry students whose families make $0-$30k list, UC Berkeley has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. It costs about $8,450 for Far Western US Region Optometry students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UC Berkeley.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Optometry at UC Berkeley

2

Pacific University
Forest Grove, Oregon

#2 in overall quality

$21,387 Average Net Price

$56,736 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Pacific University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k list. This small school is located in Forest Grove, Oregon, and it awarded 88 ’s optometry degrees in 2020-2021.

Pacific also made our “Best Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend Pacific is $21,387 for Far Western US Region Optometry students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Full Pacific Optometry Report

• Best Value Colleges for Optometry (Income $0-$30k)

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.